Review of the learning process through this project The greatest surprise in this project was the torn paper collage. I had no idea how to approach this, and then it turned out that following my instinct I created an image that worked for me. But I acknowledge that this did not come out of nowhere. […]
Monthly Archives: February 2014
Developing Assignment 5: Observation in nature
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Torn paper collage
Initially I was very skeptical about this exercise and had difficulties finding my way into it. Somewhat confused and lacking orientation, I decided to simply jump into it and see what would happen. I did not want to do a mosaic approach. I preferred to work with larger pieces of paper that would fit by […]
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Looking closer
I started this exercise giving me the freedom to do what I felt like doing: Exploring the scratching technique using oil pastels. I took an A3 sheet of white paper and laid a pale green base layer, then worked over this with pale yellow. This was to be my light colour. I then added a […]
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Introducing colour
Being still in the mood of the tonal study, later that day I proceeded to the ‘introducing colour’ exercise. I wanted to further develop the scratching approach. I thought it might be interesting to use the technique on a wash as base layer and therefore wanted to experiment with my watersoluble wax crayons. I chose […]
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Tonal study
During the day, I set up the celery root on my drawing table and spent some time finding a good positioning and lighting. I wanted the light to bring out the irregular surface texture of the root. I decided that this idea would work better when using artificial light and postponed the task until the […]
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Research point: Artists’ line work
Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868 – 1928) was a Scottish architect and designer. He was aprominent figure in art nouveau in the 1920s and founding member of ‘The four’, a group creating the influential ‘Glasgow Style’. I found beautiful drawings, many colorized with watercolour. Mackintosh captured the essential shapes in a very elegant style. The line […]
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Line drawing
To prepare a more considered line drawing, I made some preparatory blind line drawings, as suggested in the course material. They were all done very quickly. After the first, I found the resemblance extremely low and thought this might be due to a too nervous approach with too much movement. In the next two drawings, […]
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Primitive woodcarving
A few days ago I read chapter 1 of Gombrich’s The Story of Art. This book, which I bought as part of the reading list for the drawing course in 2013 (it has been removed since then), was a real surprise to me. I must admit that I never found the time to start reading […]
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Celery root, anyone?
I seem to have gotten into “creative mode” since the decision to work with the celery root as a subject. This may have to do with the deliberate choice of something I knew I would struggle with. The challenge seems to have woken me up, which I like. I’ll have to take care not to […]
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Different angles
I made several drawings of the celery root on four sheets of paper, all from a slightly different angle. I tried to depict the complex pattern of the core root and the dinted surface of the object. These drawings were a real challenge. The amount of concentration required was enormous and I had problems with […]
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